A visit to 'Poldark' country inspired Charles Dickens to help change the law protecting the working conditions of miners, a historian has claimed.

Barry West, 57, has found evidence that the Great Expectations writer was one of the first people to campaign for the impoverished mining community.

He says the 19th century author was so shocked by witnessing the appalling working conditions down the mines in Cornwall he felt compelled to act.

The area he visited is depicted in the original and current BBC series' based on author Winston Graham's Poldark stories, the latter starring Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson.

Charles Dickens was inspired by his visit to mines in 'Poldark' country to help change laws about working conditions (Image: Barry West/W Thomas and JC Burrows / SWNS)

Mr West says Dickens used his influence to write a letter to the Morning Chronicle on the day when the Mines and Collieries Bill was set to be considered by the House of Lords.

The legislation prohibited all underground work for women and for girls and boys under 10. Dickens' letter outlined why it was vital that the law was passed, according to Mr West, of St Austell.

His angry missive describes how miners are ''out of sight in the dark earth'' and robbed of ''humanity, policy, social virtue and common decency''.

Mr West has discovered the letter during research and has verified its authenticity with academics.

And he claims the timing of when it was published matched a visit Dickens is understood to have made to the Botallack Mining District in the far west of Cornwall. He used the letter to outline his horror at the conditions women and children faced.

An engraving of the Botallack Mining District of Cornwall in 1853 the closest image of the area to the time of the Dickens visit (Image: Cornish Studies Library at Redruth)

It has long been speculated that Dickens was a passionate advocate of improving the lives of those living in the type of "Dickensian" Britain.

But this evidence has been hailed as the first actual proof he had a direct role in trying to influence the legislation.

Mr West pieced together the proof following the discovery the letter that was published on July 25, 1842.

Historian Barry West at the Botallack Mining District in 'Poldark country', where Charles Dickens visited before writing a letter to try to influence legislation about working conditions (Image: SWNS)

This has now been authenticated by experts at the University of York and been heralded as proof that Dickens fought tirelessly for the rights of the impoverished.

The letter read: "For many years these mines and all belonging to them have been out of sight in the dark earth, have been utterly out of legislative mind, that for so many years all considerations of humanity, policy, social virtue and common decency have been left rotting at the pits mouth."

The letter is understood to have been inspired by a visit from the Oliver Twist author to Botallack in 1842.

He described it as the "very dreariest and desolate portion of the sea coast" and led to him taking an interest in the bill.

Mr West, who works as a trade union official and researcher of Cornish history, said: "There are many references to Dickens and at times intervening anonymously in the debate on the Mines and Collieries Bill which excluded women and girls from mines and set minimum ages for the employment of boys.

"Dickens clearly had concerns about women and children in mines. Here in Cornwall mining was very often a family affair.

"In the early 1800s, women and children were working in the mines as well. Young women took work as bal maidens dressing ore on the surface. Using special hammers they would carefully select and crush the ore to a manageable size an essential task taken before further processing.

"By the age of eight or nine, a miner's child, whether it was son or daughter was felt to be old enough to make their contribution to their family's small income."

Stars Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson filming for the third season of Poldark at the Botallack Mine (Image: Darren Strick/SWNS)

Mr West said he was thrilled to uncover a link that had never been made about Dickens and miners.

He added: "I feel a great satisfaction in making this very important link with Dickens, Cornwall, the Cornish miners here and the much bigger picture around the working conditions of people working in or on mines all over the country at that time.

"He clearly did much more than simply reflect his experiences in novels, he did something about it. Maybe there is a message to us all there.

"After many painstaking hours of searching online, contacting mining experts, emails to academics, Dickens' associations, libraries, reading books, contacting records offices and museums, I found what I was looking for.

"This was a letter to the papers and correspondence from him saying that, 'I want to see the very dreariest and desolate portion of the sea coast of Cornwall'.

"The Morning Chronicle article was found as a part of many late-night searches online.

"This was evidence that Dickens had a real interest in the working conditions of those that worked in the mines and that he was prepared to put pen to paper and write to the papers to let them know exactly what he thought.